Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico’s longtime Austin church gives new members copies of an “Inclusive Bible” that removes gendered language for God, according to undercover video footage.
The Daily Caller reported that Rev. Jim Rigby, head pastor at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian for more than 35 years and a spiritual mentor to Talarico, told an undercover journalist the church “typically” hands out the translation when people join.
“It’s good on the gender stuff,” Rigby said in the video. “The more, like, metaphysical stuff, it’s not a very good translation, if that makes sense. I think it’s really important to have a good translation so you can let go of the stupid stuff.”
The footage, recorded in August, shows a new member identified as Larry receiving a copy during a service.
“It’s the Bible that we use at this church,” an unidentified woman says. “It’s been rewritten so that there is only inclusive language and that it doesn’t use the gender-fueled language that the King James Version uses.”
First published in 2007 by Priests for Equality, the translation bills itself as the “first egalitarian” Bible, according to the Christian Post. Its translators call “the Lord” a “sexist and classist form” of God’s name and replace it with terms like “Most High” and “Sovereign One.” Jesus’ titles “Son of God” and “Son of Man” are swapped for “Only Begotten,” “God’s Own,” and “Eternally Begotten.”
Talarico’s ties to St. Andrew’s run deep. The Austin Democrat was baptized there, has attended since childhood, and had Rigby marry his parents and deliver the invocation at his Texas House swearing-in.
The church describes itself as “Presbyterian & Progressive” and argues that calling God male is “perhaps the most sexist comment a person can make,” Texas Scorecard reported. In separate footage cited by the outlet, minister Babs Miller claimed the “vast majority” of the congregation would identify as “agnostic or atheist.”
In a 2021 House debate, Talarico argued that “God is non-binary,” a remark he later called “cringey” and “deliberately provocative,” and once described himself as a “Christian who hates Christianity.”
The video surfaces as Talarico runs against Attorney General Ken Paxton in a race polls show within striking distance.
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